what went wrong?

[billywilde]

hey. not new to music, but am new to amp building and repair. i thought i would take an old traynor 2150 2x15 cab that someone had ditched at my jam space. everything had been gutted out. no speakers, no wires.

i bought 2 re-coned jbls (for a wicked price), wired them in parellel with 14 gauge braided wire, hooked it up to my mesa fathom head and it works..... kinda.

it has load hum and popped a few times. if i unplug my bass the hum stops. if i touch the metal on the patchcord when its plugged in, the hum reduces greatly but is still there. i this with 2 patchcords and same results.

bad wiring job on the cab?
grounding problem with bass?
other?

 

[Dave W]

I'm going to skip right over the speaker part...

It could be anything. Eliminate one thing at a time. Does the bass or amp make this noise when plugged into a different cabinet? Sounds like a grounding problem in the bass, or at least it sounds like that is part of the problem.

 

[basscooker]

grounding. are you using a power conditioner? if not, you should. but like ^ he said, one link at a time, you'll find it.

 

[JimmyM]

Power conditioners are glorified power strips. Not necessary.

 

[Mschiff]

i like my power conditioner. i did buy the cheapest one i could find. kind of like when an electric component breaks on your car, you start at the fuse block and work your way down the list. in this case it would be the guitar, then on. check the ground wiring in its guts, then ohm the cable and so on. rule out one possibility after another. hope it's something simple.

 

[walterw]

hum has nothing to do with the speakers, nothing.

you have a bass, patch cable or amp problem.

 

[dspellman]

hum has nothing to do with the speakers, nothing.

you have a bass, patch cable or amp problem.

Bang on.

 

[billywilde]

well the bass is a new thunderbird pro with active pickups. i hope its not that. and my amp is fairly new and in great shape, never had a problem with it. and it has an active switch. and i tried all the patches in my house and same thing..... bass? and conditioner?

 

[throbgod13]

it's a ground issue..